An Anniversary with the Vienna Philharmonic

Dear Family,

It's hard to believe that we've now been on our mission for a full year, at least dating from our entry into the MTC in Provo on May the 12th of 2014.  As anniversaries go, it was nothing spectacular as we spent the day teaching German to our Hungarian member and his mother.  But otherwise, Vienna has really decked itself out for one big celebration this week, the theme of which is "Building Bridges."  As near as we can figure out from all the advertising, which we don't pay a lot of attention to, the city is really caught up in the spirit of helping others.  We get a monthly newsletter from the city district in which we live and this month's was dedicated to how much the city is involved in helping the sick and the needy all over the world.  They mentioned helping out with the Nepal earthquakes and many of the mid-east refugees who are truly suffering as a result of the political unrest going on in their home countries.  As we've mentioned before, the city is really a melting pot of many people coming here from Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc. but one of the specific emphases they are focusing on apparently are people suffering from AIDS or HPV infections.  But not to leave anyone out, they are bending over backwards to show how tolerant they are to the LGBT community.

Because our center is only two blocks away from the Rathaus or the Vienna City Hall, that seems to be a big focus location for many of their city celebrations and this week apparently launched their "Festival Week" which included a huge song contest attended by literally a hundred thousand people.  The crowds naturally spill over quite a bit though we're fortunately located behind the building with most of the action taking place on the big plaza in front.  But we noted that all of the pedestrian traffic lights around the building had been changed to include not one figure standing or walking as red changed to green but now 2 figures holding hands with a heart between them.  Naturally it was either two female figures or 2 male figures. No further comment.

On the positive side of this week was a huge celebration that centered on the palace grounds of the old Emperor's summer palace at Schoenbrunn.  The focus there was the opening concert of the Vienna Philharmonic which all of our BYU music students tell us is the best symphony orchestra they've ever heard.  And the special item was that the concert was free to anyone who wanted to attend! The palace gardens, if anyone remembers pictures from last summer, are huge and we are sure there must have been a quarter of a million people thronging about.  The program featured Scandinavian or "north-European" composers like Grieg or Sibelius and virtually all of the pieces were very familiar like the Peer Gynt Suite or Finlandia but it had wonderful camera work with big screens as well and great sound and light effects, even concluding with a light show and fireworks.  The only rub was finding a place to take it all in and we found out that any decent viewing area prohibited sitting down. This all took place on the holiday which celebrates Christ's Ascension to Heaven or Christi Himmelfahrt, 40 days after His resurrection on Easter.  No one showed up for any language classes earlier in the afternoon so we got away by about 5 PM and arrived with 2 1/2 hours to wait for the concert to begin.  We did manage to locate ourselves right next to a border fence erected to keep the crowds off the gardens where we could lean and get some support so it wasn't really as bad as it might sound but we truly loved the concert, the orchestra and the director who was the famous Zubin Mehta.  They had a piano soloist, Rudolph Buchbinder, who was fantastic and they kept playing encores which was also special.

Here's a shot of Sister Parker shortly after our arrival and before the crowds really started forming in front of us though you can see them clearly in the background.

And here's a shot taken during the concert looking toward the semi-circular orchestra dome beneath the green lights during the conclusion of Finlandia with the Gloriette way off in the distance on top of a big hill which you really can't appreciate in the picture but which was filled with people who were allowed to sit on the grass way up there. They just couldn't hear or see much from that vantage point.

The rest of the week was pretty slow as far as center work goes.  One of the regular institute teachers was occupied with family visitors and couldn't come so several opted to come into the English Book of Mormon class Elder Parker teaches which boosted the numbers to twice as many as usual.  It's amazing how much more one learns from teaching a class as opposed to merely reading the material.  Apparently it's a natural way to encourage pondering which is where the Spirit really speaks to you.

Saturday, our regular P day we spent wandering the mazes of IKEA to pick up a table and 4 chairs to better furnish a couple of our missionaries' apartments.  It took much longer than we had anticipated but we had to help assemble the items and so got home right after dark.  Two of the elders had been eating all their meals essentially on a coffee table so we think they'll enjoy having a proper place to serve breakfast and dinner!

At our last Institute Council meeting it was determined to show the Worldwide CES Devotional. So far this year there have been two and neither has ever been offered so they determined we would show the one from January with President Ridd now and the one from May at the end of the Institute year.  We were assigned to provide refreshments after Sister Parker wisely declined preparing a full meal on the Sabbath day and suggested refreshments instead.  Even so it was a nice spread of veggies and fruits with some yummy vegetable dip provided by the gracious mailings of you guys.  Sister Parker also baked some delicious banana bread which was a big hit.  At the meeting, we hadn't picked up specifically who was going to provide the equipment for the download so Elder Parker decided to bring a laptop just in case.  In took about 45 minutes to figure out how to get it all set up in German and our laptop wasn't compatible with their projection system to get good sound and a projection capability but it turned out it was better than what was provided on a notebook from one of our YSA leaders who showed up about a half hour into the refreshment time (which was supposed to precede the devotional anyway.) We had attended a ward with a strong YSA contingent and emphasized the event for that evening and of the 11 people who showed up, they provided 4.  4 others came from the ward where two of our youth leaders on the council attend and we got three other stragglers.  Three of the wards had no representatives at all, we suspect because of lack of adequate publicizing so we'll make some comments at the next council meeting about getting the water to the end of all the rows, good Utah irrigation philosophy!

8 baptisms occurred in our mission last week, everyone of them hailing from Africa.  We thought it was interesting that in our proposed list of scheduled baptisms, numbering 50 at the moment, only 2 are listed as hailing from Austria.  There are another 6 from Germany and 3 from Switzerland but that's still barely over a fifth of the total.  We suspect the blood of Israel is running thin in Europe.  The saints here are hoping for a temple in Austria some day but only about 15% of the investigators are coming from member referrals. We'll continue to see if we can't fire them up somehow.

   Always lots going on here. But on a more spiritual note the Restoration of the Priesthood was commemorated Sunday and we were studying Pres. Benson's talks on flooding the earth with Books of Mormon, and how we should be reading and teaching our families everyday from it. One sister shared that in a class ​where they were asked to share a favorite scripture one elder gave from 1Nephi, "and my father dwelt in a tent." Everyone wondered about it, but he explained," it doesn't say my father dwelt in a very large house with lots of gold and silver. It says he had what he needed and was content." It helps us focus on what really is important, and not on material things.

Then for the first time in Sacrament Meeting we sang "Oh How Lovely was the Morning" and it took me back to the first time as a child I tuned into the words of the song. It was also a warm, spring day and the windows were filled with sunshine and the doors were open, as was usually the case with need for air circulation, and I could see the green grass, blue sky and birds. I thought about Joseph kneeling there and praying and the Holy Ghost bore witness to my young soul that the Father and Son appeared to him. I felt the power of that witness then and I still feel it today. Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and was chosen to restore Christ's church. I never tire of hearing this story for it burns in my soul with truth. May you all receive or recall that witness, even the little grandchildren.
Have a great week.

LOVE AND HUGS,
Grammy, Grampa,
Mom, Dad,
Elder and Sister Parker  

Happy Mother's Day!

Dear Beloved Family,

It has been another great week as always with good interactions with several investigators. We have a young lady, a new convert from Italy who has been showing quite a bit of interest in a young man she met here in Vienna. He seems like quite a fine young man but told her he had completely lost his faith when he was 13 years old and his mother died of cancer at the young age of 39.  He has one younger brother and his father who have also been without faith for years though all were originally Catholic. He has showed real interest in the church and our activities and the spiritual thought on Monday was essentially how we deal with difficulties in our lives. Afterwards we took the opportunity to let him know we were somewhat familiar with his disappointments and told him we'd like to set up some time to tell him a bit more about the church. He was back on Wednesday for Institute but we haven't yet quite made the connection to the elders so we're working on that. 

Additional visitors to Institute were five young adults from an hour away in Wiener Neustadt including a young returned missionary from Hungary who went to England on his mission.  His English is still a lot better than his German and he would like to continue to attend our Book of Mormon class in English. He'll be a good resource for us as we had our Hungarian make up artist and her husband also come on Friday for our waffle night. It turns out this week we weren't doing waffles for a change as the YSA's decided they wanted to have a cooking contest. Several got together with some food items and they divided up into two teams. Both had to work on appetizers and desserts and they split up the work on the main course. 

It was really quite fun, we had a total of three investigators there, but we didn't get home until about 11. Fortunately, we seniors can sleep in the next day when we need to!

For our P day we decided to try something new. Sister Parker was looking for something Elder Parker could give her for Mother's day and we found two new malls to investigate.  One of them was pretty nice and were giving away free little potted plants to all motherly looking ladies walking by plus Sister Parker found a nice scarf she'd been looking for for quite a while that finally fit the bill.  Our second mall was way out in the tulies and it turned out the train we took didn't stop at that stop on the way out. So we got off and took the train back in the other direction but got wrapped up in looking at our map and bypassed it a second time.  We decided it was a good omen as glancing in the direction of the mall as we passed by made it look a long ways off and not a great idea without a car.  So we spent the rest of the day exploring interesting architecture on a power plant designed by 

​​a guy we mentioned several months ago named Friedrich Huntertwasser (his made-up name). 

We'd seen it several times from a distances but had never stopped to explore the surroundings.  Then we decided to go visit the crypt of 12 emperors and 17 empresses who made up the royalty of the great Austro-Hungarian Empire.  

Impressive caskets to say the least and a few of them we knew from visiting their various castles. Note the small casket of the stillborn baby underneath its mother's casket in the middle. It was sobering to see how many children had died amongst the nobility.   

​​Then we visited a cool Russian Orthodox Church and along the way happened to pass by a huge memorial to all the Russian soldiers who were sacrificed in freeing up Vienna from the Third Reich.

  May Day is the traditional "Day of the Worker" and May 8 being the big celebration of 70 years since Austria was freed by the Soviet Union there were people everywhere, likely of Russian descent laying literally truckloads of flowers all over the memorial and still going on.  We saw one man having his picture taken by his wife and daughter who was unmistakably the same man in a younger photo of him they placed within the flowers.

      For Mother's Day we trundled off to the same ward where our five YSA's had come from on Wednesday, We got up at 5:30 AM but still were about 5 minutes late on arriving. Sister Parker found it unique that they didn't sing "Love At Home" for their closing song, choosing "Love One Another" instead.  But they had a cute little Primary choir singing "I Often Go Walking" after which the kids distributed small goodie bags to all the mom's in the ward.  

Here she is with her mall flowering plant and the Primary treat.She really appreciated all the lovely messages from the family and the opportunity to talk face to face with all of you.

    

It's all been said, but I guess we can never express enough what a great treasure Family is to our lives. My husband, my children, and my grandchildren are my greatest joy.

Love you forever

Grammy, Grampa, 

Mom, Dad, 

Elder and Sister Parker

Workers Unite! It's May Day!

To Our Beloved Family,

Compared to last week, this one was a bit of a let down. Attendance was down at just about everything we participated in. We still had people there but from our weekly attendance highs in the 130's to 150's we were down to about 95 or so. The big event of the week as far as the city of Vienna was concerned was the big May Day celebration on Friday. Oh, we didn't forget it was the 71st anniversary of Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma Parker, or Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Parker as the case may be but it was also the once great celebration of the Communist Party and it seems to have persisted as a day for the workers of the world to unite. The big political party here in Austria is the SPO or the Socialist Party of Austria and it's very clear that socialism has a big following here and throughout the European Union. So Friday was noteworthy for all kinds of demonstrations, marches, speeches, bands playing and in general wreaking havoc on the ground transportation system of anything running into the city center. Because our center is fairly near all of that it was recommended that we stick to the underground which we did. We learned that a restaurant we pass by fairly regularly, (Adam's Gasthaus interestingly) had been purchased by a man from Munich and so he was celebrating the day with lots of Bavarian music.

       So, because not too much was going on unless we decided we wanted to head into the crowds, which wasn't too appealing, we decided it was a great couple of days on Friday and Saturday to see a little more of Vienna.  We mentioned last week that Elder Parker received a great souvenir book for his birthday with lots of interesting undiscovered places in it and so we decided to try out an interesting bus route out through the Vienna Woods, taking Bus 52B.  We had a map that wasn't too old, about three years now, and it correctly guided us on another bus to the end of the line for good old 52B. We got there at 12:50 and found, according to the printed directory that it ran only once an hour, the next bus due at 1:15. So we had a 25 minute wait to look around at the fire station located on the corner, a big display map showing the Wilhelmina Castle-Hotel a couple of stops away on the bus we'd just gotten off of, a pretty, gold-domed church we saw off in the distance as we were driving up which we could never locate again and a quite expansive recreational area with trees and grass which we thought to appreciate would take us longer than our 25 minute wait. Suffice it to say that after some discussions with a couple of older women who were also waiting, and giving it to 1:25, the bus never appeared and we all gave up.  "Komisch" said the two old ladies. We thought so too.  So anyway we caught the original bus and took it up to the hotel which had some pretty views and lovely wooded walkways and eventually headed back to the center in time for Waffle Night.

After all, we were all still decked out in missionary attire as you can see from our selfie here:

The next day was our P day so we decided to get more properly attired, forget the 52B, though we did head to the other end of its line and instead headed to Stadtwanderweg (city walking trail) #4 which would take us to Silbersee (Silver Lake). This turned out to be a very lovely excursion and we even had an elderly couple walk by just as I was going to take a picture and offered to put us both in.  Here are the results and one of the pictures of our goal.

We took along some sandwiches and found a lovely flower-filled meadow with a little picnic table to eat on. We took this picture of some of the posies.

A huge reward for anyone who can see the small snail Elder Parker placed right next to the stick on the ground and under the white daisy.

We walked for awhile toward another pretty pond with a bunch of trees growing out of an island in the middle where Sister Parker noted the baby turtle on its mother's back, a duck just beyond the two.

Well,we made it home in time to enjoy our nearby Chinese restaurant to start our fast, attended the international, English-speaking ward today and got invited by their young adult leader couple, (he works for the US Embassy) to join the ward YSA's for an afternoon at their home, which was delicious, and afterwards enjoy "Meet the Mormons" which they had just acquired.  It was our second opportunity to see it, the first having been at our Christmas Zone Conference.

    Vienna has become a wonderful city full of blooming Lilac trees or bushes and spring flowers. Its no wonder that everyone here always refers to its gardens and parks. I'm looking forward to many more walks in the gardens and woods as we visit other areas of this very large city. The fact that it rains frequently on us doesn't seem to matter.

    [Sister Parker] Yesterday, in church the Relief Society and Priesthood were together so we could receive a lesson on family history. They had the cutest little boy, about 4 yrs. old helping his father give the lesson by telling the story of his great grandmother from the computer pictures in Family Search and the little booklet, "My Family." They indicated that every member of the family was suppose to have their own little book so that the children could benefit from knowing about their past grandparents etc. They also referred to a study done by Marshall Duke whose study found that children who knew about the lives of their families past and present history were more resilient in going through the struggles of life, whatever they may be. I was just wondering if all of your children have this booklet.

 I liked the way the teacher's family helped their little boy create his booklet. You can download the pages in 8x10 size from the computer and use those as a practice sheet before taking more effort on the real pages. It was also suggested that you take a few minutes each Family Home Evening and work on just one grandparent, or person at a time, so that it is not overwhelming. That way each child or member of the family will have their own little book to refer to from time to time. I believe it does help us to know the stories of our ancestors and how they grew up and the problems they overcame. Hope you will all take the time to help your children with this great project. We came from hard working, God fearing people who were adventurous in leaving their countries and following God's directions in their lives. They are an inspiration to me.            

LOVE AND HUGS,
Grammy, Grampa,
Mom, Dad,
Elder and Sister Parker 

This Meeting is Not About I-Pads!

To Our Dear and Beloved Family,

Wow, what a week we have had!  It began, as usual with a delicious home evening meal and a spiritual thought by one of our favorite young adults.  The Tuesday and Thursday language courses were pretty routine with Sister Parker now occasionally sitting in as Elder Parker teaches the two Hungarians the ins and outs of rudimentary German.  Wednesday night Institute seemed special as the 2 or 3 usual attendees blossomed up to 7, still none of them using English as their primary language.  This time we were joined by one of the sister's fiance, a young returned missionary who resides in Switzerland as well as two sisters who both hail from Hungary, are both returned missionaries and are currently working here in Vienna.  We were discussing Alma Chapters 1-4 which includes the description of the Amlicites who decided to paint their foreheads red to distinguish themselves from the Nephites.  That lead to a discussion about how we should treat our bodies and the churches teachings on tattoos, piercings and general clothing decisions each of us makes.  The question was asked, what does the manner in which you dress tell other people about who you really are on the inside?  Our new convert from Kazahkstan raised her hand and made the comment that one of her classmates at the University of Vienna told her how impressed he was at her manner of dress. He told her how remarkable it was that she was always dressed so nicely, even in casual clothes and we were all able to reinforce her by pointing out she was reflecting the standards she was following.

    But the week really got special as all of the Vienna missionaries met on Friday at the central bus depot to travel together to a special meeting for the entire mission in Munich.  This was unique for us because we have always made the trip previously on the train and although the trip was just a bit longer, it still brought us through the countryside of Austria which we had never seen on the train.  It was roughly a six hour trip and half-way the bus made a five minute stop to get out and stretch our legs.  

Here a quick shot of us taking some pictures and what we were taking pictures of!

       We arrived in Munich about 5 PM and were met at the depot by the AP's. All the young elders and sisters were headed off to a hostel to spend the night and had a meeting that evening at 7 but the seniors were on our own.  We received instructions on how to get to the Holiday Inn where we met several other couples and all went to dinner together to socialize and bring each other up to date on what was happening in our lives.  Those who knew where a good restaurant was invited us to go with them and about 5 couples gathered at a huge place where the only room left was up on the roof under the stars and a lovely crescent moon.  Recommendations were made and we ended up with a kind of combination plate which included roast duck, pigs knuckles and a little roast beef with a dumpling and red cabbage.  A very typical German meal but quite tasty and filled us up so much that no one had room for dessert.  

We sat next to a couple we met at the last senior conference who have some mutual connections with people we know from our St. George condo group.  They are assigned to photograph Catholic church records in a small Austrian town where for years the church was never allowed to work specifically because of who we are.  However the Lord doth provide and with some changes in the hierarchy and some persistence on the part of the church, the head record keeper was able to persuade his boss, a cardinal to let them come in and essentially aid his efforts to digitize all the records he had been working on for literally decades.  He had accumulated records from literally scores of churches around the country, cataloged them, numbered all the pages and knew his work would not be done until something was done to preserve them somehow on line.  He was able to tell his superiors that the couple worked for an organization called Family Search.  They do not wear badges nor suits and ties and put in 8-10 hours a day with what amounts to literally millions of names previously completely inaccessible.  They have met and befriended many patrons who have been coming in on their own to search the library and it was quite amazing to see how the Lord has blessed their work. But the best was yet to come.  

    Saturday morning we breakfasted with all the couples at the hotel and then drove to a chapel we'd never visited before in our other two trips to Munich.  We were asked to be there by 9:00 AM with the meeting scheduled to begin a half hour later but most of us were there shortly after 8:30 with a full street-block of missionaries walking down the street as we drove by.  There are always lots of reunions going on as elders and sisters said hi to previous companions and members of previous districts they'd worked in but everything settled down pretty rapidly as all followed the instructions we'd been given to be reverent, study, and prepare for the coming meeting.  All of us pretty well knew that the meeting was about the introduction of I-Pads to the mission and so there was a great deal of expectation.  At 9:25 President and Sister Kohler came in leading Elder and Sister Bednar, President and Sister Teixeira (President of the European Area Presidency), and Elder and Sister Allen (head of the Church Missionary Department.)  All stood as the party entered the chapel.  Also seated on the stand was the Munich Stake President although he did not participate as a speaker in the meeting.  

    Elder Bednar presided at and conducted the meeting.  As he stepped to the pulpit his first words were a greeting in German, he having served in the Bavarian mission as a young elder. He pointed out that it was a special time for him although it wasn't the first time he had returned to southern Germany. He then converted to English and said, "I want you all to know, this meeting is not about I-Pads!"  While we were in the MTC in Provo we had the opportunity of listening to a video from Elder Bednar which he had delivered at the MTC at Christmas in 2013, five months earlier.  As it was drawing to a close, he and his wife tried to sneak in from behind the podium  but was immediately recognized as all in the auditorium stood up as he came in.  The meeting with him that followed there was very similar to the meeting we experienced in Munich. After an opening hymn and prayer, offered by a sister from Australia who is in our district, Elder Bednar began with some introductory remarks about the practice of teaching by asking questions.  He assured us that the questions he would ask would not reflect what he described as priestcraft nor be  'what am I thinking' questions but would be honest questions to ascertain what we were thinking and understanding about the content of the meeting.  As he asked for responses to his remarks, he initially chided us for being slow to respond but later complimented the missionaries as they warmed to his style and realized he would not embarass anyone.  He invited questions and was always careful to ask if he had understood the question or the response correctly as he would restate or summarize it.  It was the same style he had used while speaking at the MTC and was equally open and straightforward.

    He stated that the church had used 30 missions in the United States as test cases as they sought methods to utilize the technology so available in the world.  Sister Parker and I remembered the talk he gave as the keynote address at Church Education Week last summer.  He stated that the brethren were not yet quite ready to promulgate these capabilities throughout the church missionary system but had decided to broaden the scope to include 66 additional missions of which we would be one.  He discussed principles and practices that would still be followed and both President Teixeira and Elder Allen expanded on them.  Occasionally each of their wives also spontaneously responded.  Elder Allen introduced two new manuals, a copy of each being given to each missionary present.  The first is entitled "Missionary Work in the Digital Age" and the second "Safeguards for Using Technology"  Even though they were fully developed manuals, they are obviously gaining experience as the first chapter includes 5 principles for doing missionary work in the digital age and he asked us to include a new number one "Follow the Principles of the Missionary Handbook" renumbering the following principles 2 through 6.  We obviously can't adequately summarize the entire meeting in this letter but as we broke for a 45 minute sack lunch prepared by the members of the Munich Stake for us he wanted reassurances that when we returned it would be 1:30 PM and not 9:30 AM, reminding us of the original hesitancy to get involved in the discussion.  He was always very careful to pick on people who had not previously responded.  When it was all said and done, we don't know exactly when the missionaries will actually get their I-Pads and of course we've had an I-Pad since we've been here but training will be started with fundamentals and progress in an orderly fashion.  Contrary to what we'd previously heard, the notebooks will not be purchased by the missionaries but will belong to the church and passed on to successors, probably being oriented to the individual areas where the elders are assigned but with unique new email accounts for the missionaries through Mormon.org.  

    For us old guys, not as directly involved in the finding and teaching, the most impressive part of the conference was at the conclusion as Elder Bednar expanded on the meaning of taking upon us the name of Christ.  In brief, he pointed out that each of us has agency when we choose to join the church and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Certainly our understanding of and ability to live the Gospel should increase throughout our life.  But as we recognize the importance of the covenants which we have made, at baptism, in taking the sacrament, in receiving the covenants we make in the temple, we no longer have real agency when we are confronted with decisions about what to believe and actions we should perform.  Our covenants have bound us to follow Him and keep His commandments and we are willing to take His name upon us having made that decision already.  It is something upon which we can all continuously reflect.

    Our week ended yesterday as we celebrated, with the Vienna First Ward, their 40th anniversary of building and dedicating their ward building. They reflected on the church history here in Vienna, going back to the first missionaries and branch organized here in 1909 with a great list of every branch president and bishop who had ever served.  Several past bishops spoke of their memories including the stake patriarch, a former bishop, stake president's first counselor who concluded the meeting as a previous bishop and the stake president offered the closing prayer.  They even had the district president of the city there as an honored guest, sort of like a city council member, and he was granted time as the next to concluding speaker to make remarks which were very appropriate and warm.  They had a lovely ward dinner at the conclusion of the meeting which lasted almost 2 hours and included a lovely choir with one of our district elders serving as the pianist and another singing in the baritone section.  It was a wonderful picture of the progress the church has made since it was officially recognized here in Austria in 1955, 10 years after World War II.  It was very similar to another celebration conducted by the 3rd ward last summer as they celebrated their 35th anniversary.

     We are looking forward to the upcoming visit from Brenda, Mindy and Benj.  Elder Parker received a surprise Happy Birthday greeting last Wednesday (all the Austrians know the traditional Happy Birthday song in English)  and a gift of a truly delightful souvenir book with over 350 photos of sights around Vienna.  We realized that we'd never actually seen, though we have been close by to, the memorial to the Waltz King, Johann Strauss.  

As we wandered by we found out that they regularly have concerts in the same ​building where he played his music for his admirers and we are hoping to take them there for a special concert.  Everything seems to be falling into place!

   [Sister Parker] It was a wonderful weekend as Elder Parker previously described. It was fun to see all our senior couple friends again and to greet all our past missionaries who are now serving in different areas all over the mission. It is great to form such lasting friendships. Of course, the meeting with Elder Bednar and the others was the highlight. While Elder Parker has already covered it let me just say how impressed I am with the preparation and the manual the missionaries will receive in relationship to I-Pads. As I flipped through them I felt how truly inspired they were in regards to safe guarding the missionaries, taking into account vulnerability to past or future problems. They want this training to be for a life time not just for mission time. I think that all young people, maybe even children need this training on how to use technology on internet devices safely. They are objects and tools, not agents and to be used as such, as we remember who we are and the covenants we have made. It was interesting to me to watch Elder Bednar in the later afternoon as he asked us to focus and listen, and turned from questions to teaching as an apostle. It was as though he had a different spirit about him and I received a witness that he truly was speaking as a prophet. It is hard to describe what I saw and felt, because it was a seeing and feeling experience. I was impressed with what he had to say about baptism, grace, covenants, and that the natural man needs to be strengthened by the atonement a little bit each day. We live in such a marvelous time and the Lord is truly preparing His people and hastening His work. Go forth and fill the world with light. It chases away the darkness.

We love you all very much.  

 HUGS AND PRAYERS,     

 SPRING IS REALLY HERE.  

Grammy, Grampa, 

Mom, Dad, 

Elder & Sister Parker   

Elder Parker is Finally a Seventy!

Dearest Family,

Well, a most significant week has passed.  The Ides of April are always fraught with potential hazard and terror depending on where one stands with his income taxes. We were advised before we left on the mission to make a significant advance payment to help reconcile the financial closure of our involvement in the clinic.  We remember the recommendation and thought we had complied but an exhaustive check of bank records and even the IRS revealed a big NOOO.  It never happened. Hence a bit of a bill was due together with a significant interest payment. Fortunately we've still been paying our tithes and offerings so there was ample to handle the bill but a considerable dent was made in our reserves.  There's absolutely no need to start digging into your pockets as we're still very comfortably situated but maybe a little more financially humbled which we've heard is always good for the soul.

    The rest of the week was pretty routine with nothing particularly new or unique at home evening, institute or even the language classes.Numbers were generally down by a third to even half on some days.  Waffle night was unique because instead of just playing some games, the YSA's became innovative and decided they wanted to have one of the local economic whiz members provide a course on how to write up a good resume' as part of a stake goal to become financially self-sufficient.  It did boost up our numbers a bit though most of the YSA's still didn't show.  All of the waffles disappeared handily and we even had a couple of investigators who got involved.

    So having survived the IRS debacle, the next big event was Saturday. celebrating the 240th anniversary of what??  "Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.  On the 18th of April of '75, hardly a man is yet alive who remembers the famous day and year of the midnight ride of Paul Revere."  It was a lovely sunny day though a little windy but we decided we didn't need more than a long sleeved shirt and a light coat.  We completed a few tonsorial procedures that morning and decided to embark on three things we'd never done before.  The first was to visit the Museum for the Kaiser's Chariots which was pretty cool showing how the aristocracy really got around in the old days in gold inlaid chariots pulled by six elegant white horses with livery that was impressive.  Along with the museum was the history of one of the famous but most unhappy empresses, Elisabeth, known as Sisi who was married off at the age of 15, destroying her childhood, while having three daughters, one of whom died before the age of 2 and finally a male heir to the throne.  She minced no words about how unhappy her life was, being obligated to attend to the social affairs of state eventually having a fourth daughter whom she smothered with love after demanding a little more personal freedom than she had been granted.  Sounded like she was somewhat pathological, probably a victim of anorexia nervosa, and literally being sewn into many of her exquisitely thin gowns on display in the museum.  A sad commentary on the life of a royal celebrity.

From there, on recommendation of our mission president last week we visited the Votiv's Church which we pass by almost every day but had never gone inside waiting for some scaffolding to be removed which has been unchanged for our entire 11 months here.  It's quite spectacular and

 we decided we could hide the renovation somewhat behind the trees.  

The church was virtually destroyed during World War II and has been essentially rebuilt over the past 50 years being a typical, flashy and ornate Catholic church filled with gold altars and lovely stained glass windows.

    From there we decided to try our hand on one of the hills overlooking Vienna which we'd never heard of before but looked interesting on the map.  It was on the edge of the Vienna Woods with a bus going and stopping at a cemetery at the end of the line.  We might have found a better spot to view the city but things got really cold as we briefly walked into the cemetery as you can see here.

and here so we decided to call it a day and head for a birthday dinner.  

Note we were wearing our P day clothes!  

    We finished up at one of our favorite restaurants, the 12 Apostles Cellar, to the music of Strauss and Mozart and wiener schnitzel.  Today after visiting the 5th Ward, as we boarded the train home, a young lady saw us get on and called out, "Sister Parker!"  We recognized a foreign exchange student whom we've met from Alaska who would likely join the church if she weren't 17 and not living with her parents.  She'd been moved to a new family and lost contact with the elders so hopefully she'll remake contact now.  The Lord has a way of throwing people into your path who need the contact we provide!

    It was fun making Facebook contact with scores of people and all of you to end the weekend. There were a few more opportunities to preach the gospel as that went on, reminisce about significant events of the past including weddings, funerals, operations and even genealogical connections.  We're looking forward to traveling to Munich this next Friday for an all day session with Elders Bednar, Teixara and Allen and this time it will be with all the elders and sisters in Vienna traveling on a bus so that will be a new experience!​

     While nothing too exciting happened this week there were quite a few birthdays that came to pass and we wish them all blessings in the new coming year. Spring is about the same here as at home only we don't get dumped with snow, just hail, rain, wind, sun, and the cycle repeats it's self. The big question is always, "do I want to carry this umbrella around?"  But having made the wrong choice a few times, it's better to suffer the weight in your bag.

       The best times this week have just been conversations with some of the young adults and with the missionaries about keeping your testimonies strong and safe. One of them quoted this scripture, which I would like to share in D&C 52:14; "And again, I will give unto you a pattern in all things, that you may not be deceived; for Satan is abroad in the land, and he goeth forth deceiving the nations." Let us always remember our prayers, scripture study or reading, attending church and the temple. It is a daily battle; let us fight the good fight.

 HUGS AND PRAYERS,    

Grammy, Grampa, 

Mom, Dad, 

Elder and Sister Parker 

Spring is Here Amidst Transfers and the Vienna Marathon

Dearest Family,

It seems like we don't ever just have an ordinary week any more although most of the things that are happening have happened many times before.  The big events from this week were the ending of Easter Vacation and the return to Institute even though we still had our Monday night off for the official Easter Monday holiday.  But Tuesday was the last meeting, once again, for our district prior to transfers. 

The elder right in the center is Elder Seamons, our previous esteemed district leader now home again with his family and planning out his next move in higher education.  His replacement is Elder Jakobi, right between us both, whose parents we met while we were in Leipzig last Christmas.  It's good to have a native German in the district to keep us on our toes and tell us how we really should pronounce Eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher.  After all that's a good 11 letters longer than antidisestablishmentarianism!  For those who have forgotten what the word means, you'll have to go back to the Christmas letter and dig it out.  Following our district meeting we all headed over to Herb's, our traditional saying goodbye restaurant where the schnitzel is twice as big as anywhere else we've found and they automatically bring us 9 glasses of nice cold Viennese tap water to drink.

​You might wonder why the odd number in a group of missionaries but seated between the sisters is Aigerim, our new convert from Kazakhstan who wanted to come say good bye to those who would be leaving.  This picture only represents about half of those who were there as we took up two separate tables!  Sister Kramer to the left of Aigerim, herself a convert of only a couple of years, and Elder Faux just barely getting squeezed in on the far right are our new piano playing whizzes, both "Goldens" at the beginning of the transfer 6 weeks ago.  Elder Jakobi's new companion is another Golden from West Jordan, Elder Seewer who we just met today and whose name will be pronounced Elder Saver by all the Austrians. We went to church for Fast and Testimony meeting today out at St. Poelton, about an hour west of Vienna but a wonderful branch with the only organized choir in the whole stake. It's always fun to get there a little early and join in the choir practice that they always have before church starts.

      Otherwise the week was pretty routine but the Friday Waffle Night brought a new twist.  Sister Parker has really fancied the waffles these days with fresh fruits like strawberries and blueberries and we've added applesauce and even peaches which has really been a big hit.  But this week the YSA's decided they wanted to do something novel, a sushi night.  They brought all the stuff and cooked up some of the fixings and then everyone who wanted to participate rolled and cut out their seaweed, applied their cooked rice and a variety of yummy veggies and assembled it all together right in front of our eyes.  The only catch was that the waffles have traditionally been free and they needed some reimbursement for all their sushi supplies. So we agreed that all who wanted only waffles could have them without cost and everyone who wanted to experiment with the sushi would pay 1.50 euros.  We traditionally are lucky to get more than about 15 to 20 people out, at least half of whom are missionaries but this Friday we ended up with 32 including several invited non-member friends of those who came.  It was an interesting lesson on how to get more participation by letting the young adults take some responsibility and lead out.  They've got some great new leadership amongst the group now and have a whole list of coming activities, many of which will be on Friday nights to keep us from getting into any ruts.

Yesterday saw the highest temperatures for the year and we debated returning to our walks around Vienna but decided instead to finish up our tour of the Vienna Art Museum with its new exhibition "Realms of Imagination" featuring art from the 1500-1600's.  It was really fantastic stuff and amazing how it had been able to be preserved for 500 years.  Quite a bit of it was religious art and it was always fun to see depictions of the apostles, Peter always holding the keys, and Jesus baptism, standing up to his waist in the river while John the Baptist poured water over his head but with God the Father looking on from heaven above and the dove flying around seeming to indicate that there really are three separate persons in the Godhead.  It was our fourth visit to the museum on our annual ticket we bought and have put to good use and we figure one more visit somewhere along the way will get us into some of the finer details we may have missed here or there.

But what we really enjoyed and were both able to bask in as well as get frustrated over was the great weather.  The flowers and trees are all coming out in their glory and it was just lovely to walk around.  Sister Parker did have the foresight to go back to one of the department stores where we had seen some lovely Easter decorations, accurately predicting that many of them would now be on sale.  30% off was a pretty good deal and we'll have lots of pretty Viennese reminders for next Easter when we get home.  But the frustrating part was that the good weather was wonderful for a weekend of hosting the Vienna Marathon.  Everywhere we went on Saturday it seemed they had been running the youth portion of the marathon and there were crowds everywhere with dumpsters full of collected trash and disruption of many of the streetcars that run into the center of the city.  Yesterday wasn't really too bad because we didn't have any agenda to meet but it turned out that today was the major marathon run for most everyone else. We left for St. Poelton early in the morning before things got started but upon returning found that the course went right down Radetzkystrasse, about 30 yards from our apartment, completely blocking the two streetcar lines that run right by us and provide us our major transportation routes.  Still, we were able to get close enough that it wasn't that bad a walk to get home plus we got to see the marathon going by as we walked.  We were right down from one of the drinking stations and the street was piled with plastic drinking cups discarded after the runners had rehydrated themselves but there were plenty of people out cleaning up as the race went on.  Somehow in our diverted wanderings we came across a plaza we had never paid attention to before where the offices of the Austrian President were located. 

 Note all the dumpsters in the foreground. 

It was wonderful hearing everyone's testimonies today, especially regarding the responses to General Conference last week as people discussed their favorite talks. Maybe it was just because it was fast day but President Eyring's talk got a lot of mention and we liked the two mentioned last week from Elders Anderson, Wilford and Neil, about hearing the music when you dance and the wonderful outlook toward the last days as exemplified by the three new temples announced. 

     This being Fast Day we thought you should all know that you are the object of our fast today (and some of you more than others!:))  We liked the following two paragraphs from Elder Renlund's talk: "In His mercy, God promises forgiveness when we repent and turn from wickedness--so much so that our sins will not even be mentioned to us.  For us, because of the Atonement of Christ and our repentance, we can look at our past deeds and say, 'Twas I; but 'tis not I.' No matter how wicked, we can say, "That's who I was. But that past wicked self is no longer who I am." God's desire that Latter-day Saints keep on trying also extends beyond overcoming sin. Whether we suffer because of troubled relationships, economic challenges, or illnesses or as a consequence of someone else's sins, the Savior's infinite Atonement can heal even--and perhaps especially--those who have innocently suffered.  He understands perfectly what it is like to suffer innocently as a consequence of another's transgressions.  As prophesied, the Savior will 'bind up the brokenhearted,...give...beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, [and] the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."  No matter what, with His  help, God expects Latter-day Saints to keep on trying."

   [Sister Parker] Dad or Grampa seems to have covered our week very nicely. While life is in constant change it seems missionaries and young adults move forward more quickly than at some other times. It is hard to say so many good-byes to those moving on. Also, some of the young adults have become engaged and we will have a few marriages this summer. It's been fun to see some of them fall in love for the first time and to share in their excitement. There are many single young adult conferences all aroung Europe, which last anywhere from a couple of days to a week. These conferences do seem to have some lasting benefits on matching up couples.We just had one in Linz, a couple of hours from Vienna, a few weeks ago that brought one of our young ladies into such a couple. If we work things out just right we may get to go to Frankfurt and witness one of these marriages.

    Spring has finally arrived but is coming slowly in with a few flowers and a few more small green leaves on the trees. Interesting how much you notice all the changing seasons and are so tuned into daily weather as a missionary. But there is something theraputic or energizing about being aware of the physical changes in the world around you. Spring is certainly one of those times and I wonder if my gardens at home will still have any flowers that survive our broken sprinkler system. I am also looking forward to taking more walks through the gardens, parks, and woods around Vienna.

Hugs, Prayers and Fasting Remembrances,       

Love, 

Grammy and Grampa, 

Mom and Dad, 

Elder and Sister Parker

Anniversary, General Conference and Easter!

To Our Dear and Beloved Family,

How we miss you guys, especially at these times of the year when big celebrations are going on!  The Austrians really know how to celebrate Spring Break and Easter. They take a whole week off plus two long weekends on either side.  It all started a week ago Friday and will finally be over at the end of today.  It was recommended that we close the center as most people would be vacationing so in that sense it was a bit of an easy week as we didn't hold our usual Home Evening, Institute or Waffle Night activities.  But we decided we'd go ahead with our language courses on Tuesday and Thursday.  Even there, however, the numbers were well down and many of our regular attenders didn't show.  We were ready to go home early on Thursday, waiting for our Hungarian member to come for his German instruction when he walked in about 15 minutes late.  We decided we'd only do a half hour instead of the usual hour and were within 5 minutes of that when in through the front door, completely unannounced, walked our mission president, his wife and kids, all in their P-day clothes. 

They had said they wanted to come by some time but had never seen the facility so it was interesting that we had been detained long enough to let them in.  Their children were out of school for the week and so they were all on vacation and were visiting the sights in Vienna.  They have a daughter returning home in June from a mission in Japan about the same time that Jeremy will be released. Their son, Tanner has just submitted his papers for this summer as we anticipate Jeffrey and Ian will be doing soon.

The next big event of the week was, of course, the 46th anniversary of yours (plural) truly.  One of our big supporters at the Institute, Sister Wadosch, who has, with her husband, been called to the Freiberg Temple presidency, suggested that a great place to go for our dinner celebration would be the Donauturm or Danube Tower. We may have possibly mentioned this earlier as it's located very near to where we held Stake Conference two weeks ago. It's a huge tower with a rotating restaurant on the very top. We went over directly after conference and were able to secure one of only three remaining reservations for April 1st, one of which was at 6:30 PM which we thought would be ideal as sunset was to be at 7:20 that day. So that morning we checked the forecast. Cloudy and rainy all day until about 6 PM when it was scheduled to clear up a bit. We thought some clouds would make for an impressive view and were not disappointed though it was quite windy as we approached.  We discovered that they also have a great Bungee cord jumping place about three fourths of the way up though there didn't seem to be any activity that day.  They took our picture as we went up and you can tell that our hair was a bit wind-blown. 

Remember that dates in Europe are always day, month and year so that really is April 1st and not January 4th.  You can see a picture of the tower on the right along with some of the other sight seeing spots around Vienna.

  

We ended up spending almost 2 hours there for a lovely dinner with all of the spectacular scenery and a pretty sunset to go along with it and we departed to a beautiful moonlit sky to wind up a wonderful evening.

We were glad to see many of the family get together for an Easter-egg hunt on Saturday and enjoyed the pictures you have sent.  We thoroughly enjoyed General Conference and we were able to get three of the sessions live. Saturday and Sunday mornings here come in at 6 PM and we saw both of those at our Stake Center where it was presented in German in the chapel, English in the cultural hall and Spanish in the baptismal font room.  Most of the missionaries saw it in English along with many members from the International Ward and a few of our native Austrians who wanted to hear it in the original and speak good English.  The Women's conference, Priesthood and Saturday afternoon sessions were offered Saturday at 5 PM, Sunday at 11 AM and 2 PM respectively which made for a long day with breaks on Sunday so we elected to watch the Saturday afternoon session at home on the church website.  With the new trend to allow several speakers to speak in their native languages, we wondered if President Uchtdorf would offer a sermon in German but apparently he only got as far as introducing the hymn in the middle of the Sunday afternoon session!  Elder Parker sat in on the Women's session which was truly wonderful but attended the Priesthood session with the other elders on Sunday morning and then returned home to watch the Saturday afternoon session on the church website with Sister Parker.  We both enjoyed the Sunday morning session live with the Tabernacle Choir broadcast with the members at the stake center and then after returning home stayed up until past midnight to watch the final session live on our computer. 

There were almost too many to comment on but I especially loved the talks by Elder Wilford Anderson and learning to "hear the music when we dance" as well as the many talks on marriage given by President Packer, Sister Burton, Elder Perry and all of the talks given at the Women's Session. (Elder Parker thinks he's going to sneak into that session more often!)  Especially moving was the talk by Elder Neil Anderson as he recounted the events of the Second Coming as they are rolling forward.  One of the questions we love to ask the missionaries comes from that intermediate hymn sung just before Elder Andersen spoke, "Come O Thou King of Kings, Thrice welcome to thy throne."  Can you name the three times he will come to His throne?

​   [Sister Parker] It was great to have a little extra free time this week and not to have to cook for the center, but as usual with vacation time we managed to fill it up with District Mtg., inspections, and other missionary needs, so we didn't get quite as caught up as I would have liked. We did, however, have time to celebrate our anniversary, through wind and rain, and taking the wrong bus, It was of course, an adventure which it needs to be if you are going to have a really good time. When we  finally were seated at our table and looked out the windows over all of Vienna, it was awesome. I probably use that word too much since we've been here, but then it was awesome and even more so when all the lights twinkled on like little sparkling jewels across the dark land. We could see houses, buildings, bridges and trains silhouetted in the lights. It was fun to see the long string of lights from the trains travel it seemed on air or open space across the river to the station. It was all delightfully magical and romantic. And to add to it all, there was a beautiful almost full moon peeking out between the clouds as we ran down a dark street to catch our bus home. This time we did get on the right one.

  We enjoyed all of the conference talks and the Spirit that comes with them even over the computer. A lot of the Elders liked the talk of Elder Holland, as they could visualize the brothers hanging on the cliff. I felt the emphasis was on marriage, family and the Savior. It seemed like they were inviting and calling us all to come to Jesus, to repent, and to feel his comfort, peace and joy. One of my favorite scriptures since teenage was quoted:"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." This is the kind of peace every individual, young or old, needs in our troubled world, that no matter what happens the Lord is in charge. We pray for that peace to be with each one of you.

        Happy Easter,  Spring Time,  

 Hugs and Prayers, 

Grammy, Grampa, 

Mom, Dad, 

Elder and Sister Parker